A Relation of the Cutting an Ivory Bodkin out of the Bladder of a Young Woman in Dublin, by Mr Proby; Communicated by Dr Thomas Molyneux, F. R. S.

These Particles of the Blood, are, according to my position, so small, that ten hundred thousand of them cannot make up so great a body as the corn of a great Sand; and from thence we do conjecture, that such small vessels have still branches or channels; for if they were not provided with them, the blood vessels in the thinnest of the tail, where they meet together, should not lie cross one on another, but must be united with one another, which I have not observed. III. A relation of the cutting an Ivory Bodkin out of the Bladder of a young Woman in Dublin, by Mr Proby; communicated by Dr Thomas Molyneux, F.R.S. Dorcas Blake, a full bodied sanguine Maid, of about twenty years old, whilst in her Fathers house, in Fishamble-street, Dublin, was much troubled with an hoarseness last winter, for which she was desirous to take a Vomit; but her Friends not consenting to it, she endeavour'd to provoke one, by thrusting her finger into her throat on the fifth of January, 1694. which not answering her desires, she drew an Ivory Bodkin of four inches long out of her hair, and thrust the small end forward into her Throat, upon which she heav'd so often as put her out of breath, and oblig'd her to stand upright to draw some air, which she did without taking the Bodkin out of her Throat, and at that instant it flipt out of her fingers, and pass'd into her stomach. The accident put her into some fright, but that soon went off again, because she found no immediate inconvenience. However, the reflections she made thereon, kept her awake that night. The next day which was Sunday, the sixth of January, 1692, about noon, she felt a sharp pricking pain in the right side of her Belly, lower than the Navel. However, she got out of bed, and walked a little about: Towards Evening she felt the pain nearer her right Groin than before, which hindered her from walking, and obliged her to betake herself again to her bed, where she lay restless all that night, by reason of the excessive pain. On Monday in the Afternoon one Mrs M' Guennis, a Midwife, dwelling at the Lamb in Fishamble-street, searched her, and said she felt the end of the Bodkin, but thought it was in a Gut. The next day one Mrs Taylor another Midwife, living the next door to the Bunch of Keys in St Brides-street, searched her also, who said she felt the Bodkin; but the poor woman being unsatisfy'd with the Midwife's account, sent for me to her that night: In searching her by the Anus I could not find it, but putting my Finger into the Vagina Uteri, I felt the Bodkin; and because she complained of a difficulty in voiding her Urine, I made use of my Catheter, and felt it, as I conceive, in the Bladder; but immediately trying a second time, I could not find it, which made me dubious for some time what to do. Within a fortnight after, in the presence of Doctor John Madden, the very worthy President of the King and Queen's Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, and Doctor Thomas Molyneux, a Fellow of that Society I did convey a Catheter into her Bladder, where the Bodkin was at that time very plainly to be felt. She then had as well as all the time, such an excessive pricking pain at voiding her Urine, that she was often constrain'd to hold it much longer than she would, which made her earnest that the Bodkin should be brought away at any rate; whereupon I resolved to endeavour to extract extract it after the same manner, as I do stones from women; and accordingly (her Body being duly prepar'd for the operation) about ten days after, the afore-named Physicians being present, I did attempt the extraction, having introduc'd my Forceps into the neck of the Bladder, I very readily took hold of the Bodkin, but could not move it. I then pass'd in my Finger thro' the dilatation into the Bladder, and try'd to bring the whole Bodkin into the Bladder, but could not; nor could I turn it one way or another, but round like a Spindle. I often seiz'd it with my Forceps, but found it impossible to remove it by reason of the position, which was the smaller end, resting upon the inside of the Ischium (as I imagine) which probably occasion'd her halting. Finding all my attempts to be fruitless, I despaired ever to effect it this way, which made me desist from farther tryal for some time: but now the weather being more favourable, and her pains encroaching, notwithstanding that she was frequently informed of the danger of the operation, by the Physicians and me, yet by her daily importunity, I was prevailed upon to attempt the extracting of it in the manner of the higher operation for the Stone, which was as follows. Doctor Madden, Doctor Molyneux, and Doctor Smith, Fellows of the aforesaid Colledge, being present, having placed her in a convenient posture, I put my Finger into the Vagina Uteri, and felt the Bodkin lying close to it on the outside, whilst I held my Finger there I press'd with my left hand above the Os Pubis, where I felt the head or thickest end of the Bodkin. I then remov'd my Right hand, and desired Doctor Smith to put his Finger into the Vagina, as I had done before, and press hard against the Bodkin, which he did, and held it very firm and steady, whilst I made an Incision about an inch and a half in length on the outside of the right Musculus Rectus, till I came to the Bladder. I then pass'd my Fore-finger and Thumb into the wound, and got hold of the head of the Bodkin, (the substance of the Bladder only being between,) upon which, with a small crooked Bifore, I cut the Bladder, and by gently pressing my Finger and Thumb the Bodkin lipt out of the Bladder between them, by which I very easily extracted it. I dress'd the wound and put her into Bed, and in less than a month, by Gods great blessing she was perfectly cur'd, and as free from any inconvenience, occasion'd by swallowing the Bodkin, as ever she was in her life. Tho. Proby. WE, the Physicians under-named, do hereby certify, that all the particulars of the Chirurgical operation of extracting the Bodkin out of the Bladder of Dorcas Blake, as contained in the foregoing account, are truly and faithfully related, it being perform'd by Mr Thomas Proby, Master Chirurgeon, with great skill and success in our presence, as witness our Hands, this 22d of May, 1695. I, Madden Presid. T. Molyneux. Wm. Smith. Dorcas Blake, of Fishamble-street, in the Parish of St John Spinster, came this day before me, and being sworn on the holy Evangelists, saith that the above relation is true in substance, and that she did swallow the Bodkin therein mentioned, and that the Bodkin now shewed to her is the same that she formerly swallowed. Jurat coram me decimo die Junii 1695. G. Blackall Major. Dublin. The Bodkin was cut out of her Bladder that day nine weeks that she swallow'd it. There was but half of the Bodkin in the Bladder, which was incrusterated with a gravelly calculous matter, as appears in the adjoining figure. A the head or blunt end of the Bodkin, from A to B the half which was in the Bladder with its Crust: from B to C the part which was out of the Bladder in the Pelvis, the point resting upon the Ischium. Vid. Fig. 7. IV. A Discourse of the Viper, and some other Poisons, wrote by Sir Theodore de Mayerne, after some discourse he had with Mr. Pontæus; Communicated by the late Sir Theodore de Vaux, M. D. and F. R. S. The venom of the Viper in itself is not mortal to a robust and sound body, and tho very unhappy and mischievous accidents attend it; as a great tumour, tension and weight of the part, humidity, and variety of colours, phrenses, convulsions, vomitings, yet in eight or ten days at most these accidents are over; also the Patient may be very ill, yet he recovers again, whilst the Poison having run through divers parts of the body, at last it always throws itself into the Scrotum, swelling it extremely, causes a great heat and quantity of Urine, very hot and sharp, by which it is discharged, this evacuation being the ordinary and most certain Crisis of the Disease. It is observable; that the perspiration being obstructed by the Poison, a man bit by a Viper, and swell'd up, in three or four days shall weigh almost as much more as he did before.